Wednesday, April 25, 2012

In the end, out of the twenty or so of us in the class there were a couple names that ended up on every list (the two kids who had gotten perfect SAT scores, naturally.) I came in 3rd or 4th, which I was quite happy with. But then there was the girl, Shannon I believe was her name, who appeared on only two people's lists. Last in the class. She was a shy and awkward redhead with a default expression of looking like she wanted to be anywhere else, and now the eyes of everyone in the room were on her, bottom of the list in our sanctioned, last-day-of-school popularity contest.

So to Shannon, I want to apologize for being part of the very vocal minority who got that horrible game rolling. I can't imagine how heartbreaking that must have been.

But there's a reason I'm praising Mr. Core so much, and it's how he handled things from there. He ran through the names at the top of the rankings, giving the obvious reasons he knew we had been chosen. And then he asked the two girls who had chosen Shannon - two girls who both sat right next to her - why they had picked her. They talked about her positive qualities and the fact that while she doesn't talk much, they know her well enough. He then asked the rest of us why we hadn't, trusting in our assessment of how embarrassing this must have been that we would be kind, and we were. We weren't purposefully excluding anyone, and certainly not her, but we just didn't really know her.

And so Mr. Core then transformed this horrible situation into making a spotlight for Shannon, while also teaching her that people genuinely liked her if they got to know her. By the end, she wasn't looking hurt, or like she wanted to be anywhere else. She was, for the only time I ever saw it, smiling.

2. Now available for preorder at the BBTS, a Star Wars Vintage case including the Bounty Hunter and Darth Malgus from The Old Republic, as well as Galen Marek/Starkiller from The Force Unleashed 2. (I posted photos a while back.) (I assume scalpers are going to continue to snap up those figure and resell them at eBay.)

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